Children Dearest
by The Controlled Chaos Alchemist
Summary: Sequel to Word for Word. When the turtles find a female turtle mutant in the sewers, they set out to find who exactly their birth parents are, only some of the answers are far too close to be comfortable. Especially when they discover who their biological father is. OC POV, 2k12-verse, SofoSlash, Apritello, Leorai(if Karai appears at all) rated for violence and slight language.


Children Dearest

AN: Hey there, ! CCA here with the sequel to WfW. Sorry it's been so long. I've had my hands full with Upward Bound and getting into Portal 2. I've changed the placing of this story in this universe. It's a few days after _Vengeance is Mine_. Also, this will pretty much be from the mother's (Sofonis/Sofionisba's) point of view, with some chapters in other POVs. This will be a LOT longer than WfW and for good reason. That was just one pivotal event; this is like seven or eight. Three chapters each. That's what I'm aiming for, anyways.

I'm proud of how popular Word for Word has gotten, and the current tally of total views and visitors is… well, I can't tell you. My counter is broken right now. It's stuck on 190+ and 56+. I know I have over 700+ and 100+ for that story… wait, that's just for this month. Well then. So far I have 1193+ views and 492+ visitors. That may seem like a small number to some of the more famous writers, but it's huge to someone as little-known as me. Thank you all for the feedback!

For this story, you don't really have to read Word for Word to understand it other than the turtles' birth names and their genealogy. There will also be a little bit of a language barrier between them. They can understand her, but she can't understand them.

This chapter will be the only one in the second person, unless you guys like it like this. I'm just testing out the style.

DISCLAIMER: Out of this entire story, the only characters I will own are Sofonis/Sophionisba and the couple cameos from me and a few of my friends. I will also own a couple of the parodies of popular shows and games, like Speedzi the Hedgehog and the Alien Shinobi Frog Kids. Everything else belongs to Nickelodeon.

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Both and Neither

You're exhausted. You've been running in the dark for a long time, though you didn't know how long exactly. You've also been changed. You were so different from how'd you'd been before the glowing ooze had fallen on you. Yet you're still the same in several ways as well. You tripped and fell on your face, but scrambled back to your feet. You're being chased. You didn't know what the chasers were saying; your knowledge on human language was extremely limited to certain phrases. You did know one thing, however. You knew that these creatures looked human, but weren't even close to being humans. You choked back a dry chuckle. That sounded similar to your situation now. You made a turn to the left and found the entire tunnel blocked off by these… _things_. You turned back and found that they had also filled the space behind her. You were trapped. Nowhere to go. You pulled into your shell and cowered there.

Suddenly, a cry — different from all the others — echoed around you. _"BOOYAKASHA!"_ it was said in human, and the person who had said it sounded young; the voice was filled with excitement and even a little insanity. You peeked out a little and saw several shadows — you counted four — darting around and destroying the metal monsters. Each did it differently. One used long, sharp sticks of metal that cut right through them. Another used something that looked like a pair of those _fork_ things that humans used to eat. The tallest-looking one used a big stick that he spun around and whacked into the robots. You could barely tell what the fastest form used. As far as You could figure, it was a pair of thick, short sticks tied together with some kind of metal circles. The fast-moving being used two of these. This both awed and scared you. Despite your fear, you kept watching. They moved gracefully, almost flowing like water. At least the one with the metal sticks did. When the last one had been defeated, the four rush over to you, hiding away the things they'd used to destroy the not-humans. They came into a small patch of light made by the moon shining through an overhead grate, similar to the one you'd been dropped in after the ooze had spilled on you. Of course, that had been before the changing had started. You feel your eyes widen as you take in exactly what they were.

They were like _you_.

They were all human-turtles like you had become, only they all bore male-scents. They also wore bands of color over their eyes, probably to tell them apart easier. The one with the metal sticks wore the color of the sky over his eyes, the eyes themselves a darker shade but more vibrant. The _lee_ band. The one with the big _forks_ had a blood stripe that made his grassy eyes stand out. The _rae_ band. The one that had the stick wore a band the same color as coldberries (blueberries) and deep eyes that were a mix of the bricks that made up some of the buildings in the city and the bark of a tree. The _doux_ band. The one with the link-sticks wore a sun-colored beam over his eyes, with eyes like the sky or those clouds some human children had eaten while looking at pets. The _milos_ band. There were also differences that you begin to notice as you take the rest of them in. The _lee_-banded one had eyes narrower than the others and was the second tallest; even his skin had a little bit of _lee_ in it. The one with the _rae_ band had a piece of his chest-shell missing and his skin was darker than _lee_-band; his eyes and face were a little more square-shaped than the others, and he was almost the shortest. The one that bore the _doux_ band was the tallest of the group, with the palest skin and droopy eyes; he gave you a little smile, pulling back his flexible beak and revealing squares the color of clouds. The grin bore the fact that he had a gap in the squares of _frosir_. The one with the _milos_ over his eyes was the shortest of the four. His skin was pale like the one with the _doux_ over his eyes, only it seemed warmer; there were spots where the skin had the same kind of tinge as some humans had. Under his eyes were spots that were darker than the rest of his skin. He had big, round eyes and a pudgy, youthful face. This one is the one that you suspect had alerted the non-humans of their presence. On one of his forelegs was a band of _frosir_, a little bit of blood staining it slightly. The four shared similar scents, meaning that they were probably brothers.

The one with the narrow eyes asked her something in the language of humans; his voice was deeper than the one from before, level and calm, meaning that he was the one in charge. That didn't mean that you weren't perplexed. The one with spots on his face said something to the squint-eyed one, and the latter made a motion with a clear meaning. _Go ahead_. The small one had probably asked if he could try. You had also been right in the fact that it had been he that had alerted the fake humans to their being there. Now his voice was lacking the insanity and most of the excitement, which was replaced with a gentle sense of enthusiasm for life in general and concern. He walked up to you and sat down, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly; seeing the almost-smile brought a sense of nostalgia you couldn't explain. He grabbed a rock from nearby and drew something on the ground, leaving thin scratches that could barely be seen. It was a strange symbol over an arrow pointing to you. He must be asking who — or what — you were. He holds out the rock; you emerge from your shell and sit up, taking the rock in your changed foreclaw. You begin to turn it over in your grip, looking at it to see if there was anything special about it. The other turtle gently grabs your clawjoint and gingerly directs it to the hard ground, and pushing down enough to convey that you will need to press down to make it work. You looked at him in confusion, and he traces circles on the ground with a dull talon, then points to the symbols he had made. He wanted to use pictures to talk. You clumsily comply, drawing a cloud — a _sofinis_ — as best as you could. It wasn't pretty. In fact, it was a really wobbly cloud, but still a cloud… barely. The turtle with the sun band looked at the picture and his expression brightened into a full-blown smirk. He turned to her brothers to convey the information, but the one with a band of blood seemed to doubt the younger. He expressed so with his voice, which was gruff and had an underlying sense of anger. The sky-eyed one's smile fell into a frown, eyelids lowering halfway, giving a general air of unamusement. He shifted to show the others the picture you had drawn, pointing at it and explaining it to them. Square-face rolled his _terrpi_ eyes and shook his head slightly. A pink tongue was exposed in his direction, courtesy of his younger brother. Round-eyes turned back to you as he withdrew his tongue and looked at the pictures with glazed eyes; they lit up as he got an idea. He drew what you guessed was supposed to be a building after tenderly taking back the rock; _where do you live?_ Maybe _where are you from?_ You are given the rock back and you shakily draw the pet shop. Big square, smaller square to the left, tall square to the right, a 'dog' in the small square that's supposed to be a window. His eyes widen and he hurriedly tells his brothers. The other three seem just as stricken as the youngest was. The one with the blue band instructed his brothers all to do something, firmness present in his voice. The other three nodded and the one nearest you began to help you up as he cooed gently to you, trying to keep you calm and encouraged.

Your group works its way through the tunnels in the darkness for what feels like hours, the ground changing to metal strips along the floor and walls, until you spot light up ahead. The others have spotted it as well, moving faster than you and the one supporting you. Even he has begun to move faster as well, though just slow enough to keep you from falling down or being unable to catch up easily. This must have been where they lived then, the source of the light. A wide grin was on your helper's face, and you couldn't help but smile as well. You begin to wonder what their home was like if it was down here. The entrance was huge, but blocked off at the bottom by a wall that stopped at the cloth strip around the shell of the tallest. The _milos_ banded turtle handed you to the _rae_-banded one, who was up on the platform. His grip was rough and a little tight, but still gentle enough for you to know he had no intention of hurting you. The tall one said something and jabbed a balled-up claw in the direction of the other side of their home, the stubbier talon sticking out; his voice was intelligent and a little nasal, but still a little older-sounding than the one that had first helped her on the way here. The one with the stick jumped over the little wall and jogged into another room. You look to the little one and see him clutching his foreleg, right over where the cloud band was; he had been injured recently, and the cloud band was supposed to soak up blood while he healed. He notices your worry and grins painfully at you, doing the stub-talon jab at the top of the tunnel. You look up, but see nothing of importance there. You look back at him in confusion, and he changes his claw positioning. Now the tips of his first talon and his talon-stub touched, his remaining talon spread out. _Are you trying to say you're alright?_ you finally ask him in your language, the words feeling strange in your mouth. All three turtles froze in their steps, causing you to stumble a little. They stared at her, eyes perfectly circular in surprise. The _rae-_banded one asked you a question, the roughness gone somewhat, taken over by surprise. You are confused again. _I can't understand you_. you point out to them, and their surprise escalates. They escort you hurriedly into their home and navigate you to a separate room to the side with metal doors. This room looked completely different from the other one. It wasn't as spacious, and there were papers all over the back wall showing pictures. On a table by the back wall sat shaped pieces of glass and bits of metal, a patched-together square sitting by the edge. They direct you to a strangely shaped table that was shorter and push you gently to sit on it. The _lee-_banded one leaves, maybe to find the _doux-_ masked one.

You looked at the remaining two, reading their expressions. The one with the sun over his eyes seemed nervous, unsure on how to feel about the whole situation. The one with the dusk adorning his face was trying to not look at you, face set in a scowl. He was upset about the situation as well. How did you feel about this? To be honest, you don't know how to feel about this at all. How should you know?

This was the first time you have met other creatures like you.

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There is a reason as to why Sofonis knows some human words, but her knowledge on that overall is limited. There is also a reason that Slash knew how to speak English right after he mutated, but Sofonis didn't, and that reason is simple: Raph talked to Slash every day before he got mutated, so it would stand to reason that Slash would have learned to talk from him. Sofonis, however, spent her entire life in a pet store, meaning that she would only pick up little phrases that are useless to her in a situation like this, meaning she knows virtually nothing about English.


End file.
